The present invention concerns devices for temporarily disabling a firearm, as a safety measure, for example in the case of firearms owned by persons who have children in their homes.
In recent years heavy news media emphasis on violent crime has induced more and more citizens to retain firearms in the home for protection against criminal intruders, in addition to firearms owned for hunting. At the same time, there have been numerous reports of children having been injured or killed as a result of gaining access to firearms in the home.
Thus there is a need for firearm security devices which may be used to temporarily render a firearm inoperable, in a way which cannot be easily overcome by a child, and in a way which also allows the adult owner of the firearm to quickly and easily remove the disabling mechanism, should there be a sudden need to use the firearm against a criminal who is breaking into the home.
As detailed in the information disclosure documents filed with application for the present invention, various prior art firearm security devices have employed the general approach of providing a device to be inserted within the barrel and firing chamber of the firearm, using a removable member which is also used to extract the disarming device when the weapon is to be again rendered operable. However, a number of the prior art devices are considerably more complex in structure than the present invention, described below.
And applicant's device, although using the same general approach as just outlined, uses a simple specific approach not employed in any of the prior art devices known to applicant: provision of a device having a stretchable anchor member with portions which are normally slightly oversized in relation to the barrel and firing chamber of the firearm, and means to apply stretching force to stretch the anchor longitudinally so that the oversized portions may be inserted within the barrel and chamber, whereafter the stretching force is removed so that the anchor attempts to return to its oversized dimension, and thus becomes tightly wedged in the barrel and chamber, to disable the firearm.
The purpose of the invention is the provision of a simple, inexpensive and easily operated device to allow the temporary disabling of a firearm; to do so in a manner which cannot be overcome by a child; and to allow rapid rearming of the firearm by the adult owner when the weapon is needed.